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Film Review – Allied
Here is yet another instance where trailers and advertisements promise one film and what we get is something else. We’re lead to believe that Robert Zemeckis’ Allied (2016) is a taut thriller about betrayals and lies. What we actually get is a sweeping love story…
READ MOREBlu-Ray Review – One-Eyed Jacks
Marlon Brando’s first and only directorial effort, One-Eyed Jacks (1961) has been inducted into the Criterion Collection (Spine #844). Once lost to public domain, the film has been updated with restored visuals and audio, and comes with a handful of supplemental material to provide context…
READ MOREFilm Review – Moana
In Disney’s Moana (2016), a precocious young daughter of a Polynesian chief takes it upon herself to travel out into the ocean to save her people. Legend has it that centuries earlier, a powerful demigod stole a magical stone known as the Heart of Te…
READ MOREFilm Review – Almost Christmas
‘Tis the season, once again. With the holidays rolling in, so comes the holiday movies. This time, writer/director David E. Talbert gives us the family comedy, Almost Christmas (2016). If you’re a fan of Christmas movies, then you’ll see a lot of the usual clichés…
READ MOREFilm Review – Doctor Strange
Have audiences reached superhero fatigue? When the screening of Doctor Strange (2016) ended, the audience I was with had a peculiar reaction. Instead of buzzing with excitement over what they’ve just seen, the crowd gathered their things and quietly shuffled out the door. It was…
READ MOREFilm Review – Moonlight
Moonlight (2016) does the thing that many great pictures do: it places us right into the mindset of a character and lets us see the world through their eyes. I’m not a black man, I didn’t grow up in the rough areas of Miami, and…
READ MOREFilm Review – Ouija: Origin of Evil
Ouija: Origin of Evil (2016) is set up as a prequel to Ouija (2014). Instead of taking place in the present day we travel back to the 1960s, although the house featured is the same one from the first film. Why a prequel instead of…
READ MOREBlu-Ray Review – Pan’s Labyrinth
This year marks the tenth anniversary of Guillermo del Toro’s Academy Award winning Pan’s Labyrinth (2006). To commemorate the occasion, the good folks over at the Criterion Collection have graciously bestowed upon us a beautiful blu ray edition of the film (Spine #838). This director-approved…
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